Commercial parser games aren't as common these days, so I know I always like to check when one comes out (like Hadean Lands, Patanoir, Thaumistry, etc.) so I thought I'd post this here.

Last year, I released Never Gives Up Her Dead, a 350,000 word parser game about a woman whose spaceship is being destroyed. She has to travel to ten different dimensions to restore her ship and save her future. It went on to win the Best Game Over 2 Hours and Best Sci Fi Game in the IFDB Awards, and is currently the highest-rated game on IFDB of the last 3 years.

I've made a new, Deluxe edition that adds some graphics, hyperlinks, and downloadable executables, and published it on itch. It's on sale now for Halloween, and even in just 12 hours sales have already exceeded my expectations. You can check out the page here:
https://mathbrush.itch.io/never-gives-up-her-dead

Thanks to everyone who's helped with this game in the past!

Does anyone know of a way to produce audible speech from an IF game? I'd like to have the output of my own Inform 7 game read in English. I'd love to have a choice of voices like macOS or other text-to-speech engines. Can this be done with a web player? Any ideas? It doesn't have to be Inform or even Z-Machine, as I'd consider rewriting the game for another system if necessary.

Any ideas?

Same as title, don't mind if it's nsfw.

A Spanish horror account on Instagram posted to this there is a chat bot and a forum on the site with a Google doc. Not sure if it's solved or not but it seems like there is on going lore 828411.info idk what the numbers mean

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Hey everyone!

I'm just here to share the prologue of my upcoming game, COCOA. It's called "Hired."

You can read it here: https://pupilentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Hired.html

Synopsis:

Azizi, a young boy fleeing a troubled home, seeks independence by working at a cocoa plantation. Drawn by the promise of a better life, he soon discovers the grim reality beneath the surface. As dark secrets unfold, Azizi begins to question the true cost of his decision and what he has left behind.

Hey all, hope you don't mind me advertising a small cyberpunk-themed interactive narrative called The Evokist that I'm currently running on Instagram - you can found it instastorystories and vote daily on a plot choice point.

I'm a former game designer and currently spend the majority of my time teaching at a University in the Netherlands - principally narrative related stuff, including interactive narrative, non-linear narrative, and videogame narrative - and my foray into Instagram interactive stories began as something of a joke (I was doing a lecture on the topic and put a poll in my instagram stories that let people vote on whether they wanted to hear more about it), which developed into a three week long story involving a time travelling cat. I had a lot of fun and that inspired me to create a separate account and convert a short story/novella I'd plotted out in the past into an interactive narrative and use Midjourney to create visuals.

Four days in, and it's got a (very) small but loyal audience. You can catch up with the story so far in the Highlight reel and feel free to join in on the vote.

Anyway, thanks for letting me share it here. Happy to answer any questions people have...

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Hey everyone! I'm working on a new interactive fiction + light strategy game called Letters from the King where you read a chapter and then write letters to your generals to command your armies!

Check it out here if it looks interesting to you!

Letters from the King is an interactive short story + light strategy game for the Daylight Computer.

Step into the role of a young King Arthur, leading your armies against Camelot’s invaders by commanding your generals through written letters.

Each letter shapes the course of the battle: it influences your generals' actions, provokes enemy responses, and alters the next chapter of your story.

Read a chapter. Analyze your battle map. Command your generals. And watch as the story unfolds in unexpected ways.

I have some ideas for an IF game that can't be completely implemented inside of standard IF engines. Imagine, for instance, that a core part of the game requires the player to actually sit down and play poker with NPCs, and that I have code that implements a poker game logic. I can imagine several ways that this could be done, and I've listed them in order of desirability for me. What game engines would support each of these approaches? Are there other ways that I'm not thinking of?

1. Game engine has an FFI that allows us to make a call into a poker.dll. Presumably, it has a command in the scripting language to initiate these calls.
2. Game engine is open source and written in a language I know and can extend directly, or in a language with an FFI.
3. Game engine allows calling external HTTP APIs. (This is the least desirable option, as I'd like to distribute the resultant game.)

Has anyone else done anything like this?

I'm trying to make an online choose your own adventure story with builtin music (that I would be creating). Does anyone know which website I should use for that? I would preferrably like the whole thing to be on a website.

Hello all! I'm FlimsyLegs, developer of text-first adult adventure games that become visual novels with the help of fantastic artists! The focus of my games is always quality writing, and the images can be toggled off at any time in the configuration menu. This is the case with Taru's Infernal Pledge, which has now reached version 0.5.0! The game is very much a work-in-progress! 8 placeholder images in chapter 1 have been replaced by proper hand-drawn images by the fantastic artist tacinky in this update, and 50% of Chapter 6 has been written!

Synopsis
Taru's Infernal Pledge is set in an original dark medieval fantasy universe, in Valkama, the metropolitan capital city of Jaerwik, at the northern edges of the known world. Step into the shoes of Taru 'Bolt' Nopsa - a dashing you woman. A skilled thief and assassin by trade, she's lived with a gang of criminals for a few years.

When your journey as Taru starts, you're betrayed by unknown reasons by presumably someone in the gang. You're captured by a fanatical cult of Astorolus - an unknowable entity. "The Fathomless Hunger", "The Abyss" and "The Old Poison" are but many of its names. Your soul is bound to his entity, and you will be sacrificed to appease this ancient evil.

However, Piru, the 5th archdemon of hell, has been trying to tempt you into a pact with him for a long time. Just like he did with your mother, who died years ago under strange circumstances. Now, in order to escape the cultists, you find yourself finally pledging yourself to the demon.

Become the demon's concubine and assassin. Explore the Abyss with Tryton, the anointed of Astorolus, The Fathomless Hunger. Embrace the blinding and sadistic light of the God of Mercy with Opettaille, Her devout priest. Find your old gang, answers, and revenge. The road to saving your soul and breaking your pact with the archdemon is long and hard.

NSFW WARNING: Do not click the link below unless you're an adult and want to delve into a dark fantasy world filled with sex, violence and a visit to hell and beyond.

Link: https://flimsylegs.itch.io/tarus-infernal-pledge

Tales of Wocdes: The Silver Protector

A WIP Twine game! The demo is available on Itch.io. (demo updated 10.10.2024, ~103 500 words with code inside text and different branches).

Tales of Wocdes: The Silver Protector is a high fantasy interactive fiction made in Twine. During the story, your protagonist will change from a helpless child to a Silver Protector, an elite warrior and protector. In time, you may wield powerful magic, or be a master of the blade.  

The game is in early development. All content is subject to change.

There is a development blog on tumblr.

Premise

Wocdes is a world full of magic, monsters, and secrets. No beings in this world embody all three better than the Ancients,  godlike in power and unbeatable in battle. Incredibly wise and compassionate. Incredibly terrible and cruel. Immortal and glorious. Petty and vengeful. Or so the stories go. 

Not that you know the stories. Why would you? You are a child kidnapped for unknown purposes.  You barely know anything about yourself. Your life is one of pain and suffering at the hands of people you do not know. 

In a moment of desperation, a plea leaves your lips. Or perhaps it is only in your mind. Unexpectedly something hears you and will never ignore a broken child alone in the dark asking for help. You are saved but you are permanently scarred by your experiences. Given into the care of the newly created Orphanage of Firgrat, here is where your journey truly begins. How will you cope with your past and current reality?  Can survive the cruel world of Wocdes, the weight of your trauma? Can you help others survive?  Can you grow up, make friends, learn to love, and become a real person again?

What to look forward to

In this game, you will (eventually) be able to:

• Customize your character, from their appearance and gender (male, female, non-binary) to their abilities and personality.
  • Admittedly, your characters emotional development has taken a bit of a hit due to recent events, leaving them a bit confused in general about... everything. 
• Discover why you were kidnapped, eventually.
• Protect those you feel deserve it, become stronger for yourself or to protect others.
• Grow up alongside other orphans and kids from the city, journey through childhood at the orphanage and the surrounding city, to adulthood with responsibilities. 
• Develop your relationships with your fellow orphans and other companions, maybe even get into a romance. 
• Speaking of romance, the author aims to offer an option to be completely and utterly dense about romance, like completely oblivious to the degree people worry about you. Or maybe you will be a smoother operator.
• Go on adventures and missions, both innocent and not, in an original fantasy world full of magic, wonder and cruelty.

Characters

Primary

• The twins Atru (m) and Azha (f): The original inhabitants of the orphanage and the only children already there when you arrive. Both twins have short blond hair and green eyes. Atru is a seemingly silent emotionless boy who clings to his sister Azha. Azha is a little girl shaped ray of sunshine and well-meaning mischief. And chatter!
• More characters will be filled out later.

Secondary

• Havard (m): The head custodian of the Orphanage. A father figure to all the children. His duty is to guide the children, and it is a duty he takes very seriously.
• Lexia (f): The Silver Protector in charge of you. Young, excitable and strong. One of the first to be chosen for the new elite order called the Silver Protectors.
• Alessa (f): The custodian in charge of the twins. A sweet young somewhat shy woman who the twins adore, both in their own ways. 
• Sandor (m): The Silver Protector in charge of the twins. A good-natured and somewhat shy young man often trailing after the twins with a fond look. 

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction! Any potential resemblance of appearances, names, or personalities of characters with people in real life, living or dead, is coincidental.

This story is meant for adults. The game contains depictions of violence, blood, gore, sexually suggestive content, black humor, explicit language etc. A more complete list can be found in game. Like everything else, this list is subject to change. 

The game contains dealing with traumatic events. The author is not a qualified medical professional, and the in game responses to trauma are not in any way encouraged.  If you are uncomfortable with what you are reading, please refrain from continuing until you feel better. Or drop the story entirely. None of this is worth your health.

You play as an orphan dropped off at some kind of knights order HQ, and are taken as the ward of two people, they aren't romantic, and they raise you, and you are suppose to eventually join that order. Probably fantasy

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Interactive Fiction at its most epic and brutal! An Unexpectedly Green Journey is an orc life-simulator, where, through 1.5 million words, you forge the orc of your dreams, and everyone else's nightmares.

Pic by Artist Anon

Orcs, stop raging at the sky. Those sky sheep are beyond reach- FOR NOW! Instead, vent your frustrations on the whole world. Pick up your axe and your pouches of shamanic powders and trinkets. TURN THE WORLD GREEN!

The demo for An Unexpectedly Green Journey is out! Become an orc in a harsh, unforgiving land. Hone your brutal instincts. Become a warrior, shaman, chief, king, emperor or god. Prowl the world with an adventuring party. Even ascend the ranks of the arena! Start your legend...

Play the free demo below and find links to the full app on Steam, Apple, Android and Amazon:

An Unexpectedly Green Journey (choiceofgames.com)

Have a jolly good ruck, mates!

does anyone know of any buffy-based IF games avaliable for zcode interpreters? Got super addicted to them recently and i think a btvs one would go so hard!

I’ve found three games in what I feel like is a niche genre - fictional Wikipedias.

The ones I’ve played/am playing so far are:

• Unit 322 (Disambiguation)
• Neurocracy
• Excalibur

Does anyone know of anything similar? It doesn’t have to be a Wiki - could be anything based on a computer etc. But I love finding the links through different pages and exploring an unravelling mystery that way.

Dominion of Darkness is a strategy/RPG text game (there are some 2D illustrations) in which the player takes on the role of a Sauron-style Lord of Darkness with the goal of conquering the world. He will carry out his plans by making various decisions. He will build his army and send it into battles, weave intrigues and deceptions, create secret spy networks and sectarian cults, recruit agents and commanders, corrupt representatives of Free Peoples and sow discord among them, collect magical artifacts and perform sinister plots.

Contrary to most "villain simulators" it is not supposed to be parody game. It doesn't mean that it is deadly serious, there is some black humour. There are themes like genocide, torture, slavery, demon summoning, human sacrifices, cannibalism, BDSM.

Here is the prototype (but in this post I am searching for people to test new, extended and improved version): https://adeptus7.itch.io/dominion

I am looking for people eager to help with playtesting - especially fluent in English. You will play, send me Your opinion, information about possible bugs, some details about stats achieved during it.

If You are interested, please write comment here or just send me Your email on chat.

PS. If You don't believe that game exists and think that this is some scam, here are reviews of the prototype:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM6f4UCEgWU

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgNpSKToOSg

In my opinion, The Best Interactive Choice Game has to be Until Dawn, The Suspense about The Killer, The Thrills from The Wendigos & One thing I liked about Until Dawn is that it took more than half of the story of the game to introducing and building a connection between the characters and the gamers/players. It didn't rush the story like most of The Dark Pictures Anthology Games. I also like how some choices deceive you like saving Emily or jumping to the other side, where if you save emily, Matt will die & the choice to investigate the noise in the mines with Ashley or rejoining the group, where if we investigate we Jessica's screams, Ashley dies and I was shocked when I chose that option andit was Revealed that it was just a Wendigo mimicking Jessica's screams, like we literally see her alive in a clip before this choice if we managed to reach Jessica quickly when playing as Mike, So that's My opinion on the game. I also like DBH (Detroit: Become Human) but I mentioned Until Dawn as my favourite game because it helped The Interactive Games gain popularity.

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Hello everyone,

I’m excited to share a glimpse into the Celestial Tear, our ever-expanding, interconnected universe where your choices shape the story in real time.

Demon’s Revenge, tells the tale of supernatural beings fighting for survival against the oppression of mankind. In a world where humanity hunts them to the brink of extinction, these magical beings must endure in a hostile and unforgiving environment.

Your decisions will play a key role in defining the official timeline of this universe and help us shape the future of the Celestial Tear. We’d love to hear your thoughts and hope you enjoy what we’ve created so far!

Celestial Tear - Demon's Revenge story

We are also looking into putting this on Itch.io as a download for those who have issues running the game in the browser.

So, I'm trying out "Arcadie: Second-Born", and it's very frustrating because the PC doesn't seem to know anything. It doesn't help that I've finished "I, The Forgotten One" & The Infinity Series, both of which are far better "You are an important political/military figure running a campaign".

Anyway; my real gripe is that the PC seem to be constantly asking about things she should definitely know. She's a princess of some adult age, & the spare. She should have met the primary military commanders of her entire country, at least in passing. She should know how her country's internal security works. She should know the whys & hows of the previous war(s) & subsequent peace treaty she is seemingly going to be overseeing. She should know how her country's parliment works. But she asks about them as though she's a hick from the middle of nowhere.

I imagine this has come up in other IF I've read, but this one is *really* blatant. Just have an info tab with an overview of the world the MC understands, for goodness sake. It's really immersion breaking to have a supposedly well-educated character ask some variant of "What's a king?" 10 choices in a row.

Also the two RO are either way too young for the rank/job they both hold (the same one), or they're twice the PC's age. Kinda weird.

Hi, mighty orcs and wise, insane, shamans,

Just wandering past the tavern, I was drawn by the lively chatter and thought that this fine place might be somewhere to find heroes possessing a simmering, barbarous rage...

To tell you the truth, I am not really looking for heroes...

On 3rd Orctober 2024, Hosted Games is publishing my Interactive Fiction game about the life of an orc. The game is called An Unexpectantly Green Journey. This 1.5 million-word adventure sees you take on the role of an orc, from birth to death. The world is your mouldy green oyster- unite the tribes and conquer a continent to become the first Green Emperor. Or rise to become the most powerful shaman in history. Maybe you give in to the darkness and emerge as an orcish demon lord?

Revel in the slaughter of battle. Amass gleaming piles of loot. Climb the ranks of local arenas and claim the title of Grand Champion. Even join an adventuring party. Just don't forget to sate your gluttony on halfling steak, whenever the tasty little gits wander your way.

WARNING- do not expect modern orcs! These green barbarians are old-school brutes who love nothing more than having a ruck.

Released 3rd Orctober, An Unexpectedly Green Journey will be available on Steam and various Apple and Android mobile apps.

To be more helpful than a pandering, pudgy halfling, I'll provide a link to the Hosted Games forum and a link to the game's Steam page.

Perhaps it will tickle some of your fancies.

Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3053420/An_Unexpectedly_Green_Journey/

Hosted Games forum page:
https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/releasing-3rd-o-r-ctober-2024-wishlist-now-an-unexpectedly-green-journey-orc-life-simulator-1-5-million-words/137502/844

Anyone know if it's possible to launch an Infocom title in WinFrotz without the Title Bars on top?

I'd like to just launch it fullscreen, or have it autohide the Title Bar.

TIA

I've loved IFComp games for a long time and at one point played every available game I could find (which was around 1000, with only 2 or 3 not being available).

I began writing a series of essays on IFComp games, and later included essays on other adjacent competitions like the XYZZY Awards and Spring Thing.

With a grant from the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation, I was able to collect all of those essays into a 300 page book. I'm publishing it for free on Github.

I know there are several great IF history resources out there, like Get Lamp and 50 Years of IF. While I can't reach to their wonderful production levels and writing quality, I hope this book is of interest to some. Thanks!

Also, I do want to mention that I realize that IF is a huge field including visual novels, tumblr Twine WIPs, etc., most of which aren't covered in this book. I've only managed to captured a small sliver.

Here is a link to the book ('chicago' version use author name and year for citations, 'learning' versions use APA citations):

https://github.com/brirush84/IFTextbook/releases

I just love Andy Phillips games. Yes, the puzzles are impossible, the solutions require you to be a mind reader, and the writing of female characters is well, let’s just say you can clearly tell a man wrote them, but they’re so thrilling and exciting to play. My particular favourite is inside woman, but I enjoy all of them.